Celtics Notebook: Payton Pritchard carves out an early role

College players with more than two years of experience tend to sink in the draft, which is why the Celtics were able to take Grant Williams and Payton Pritchard in the latter parts of the last two drafts.

But for the second straight season, Danny Ainge has found a rotational player in that range.

Pritchard has found a niche due in part to Kemba Walker’s delayed return from knee issues, and has not only put his quick shooting release on display – he’s now helping to run an offense against NBA competition.

“Honestly I got better every year in college,” he said on Monday of how four years at Oregon turned into a benefit. “Everybody has a different path that they go whenever they are ready, whenever they think they are ready. For me, I was ready to go after my senior year and come in and play right away. So, I think throughout college it wasn’t like I stayed the same. I got better each and every year, and I want to continue to do that now in the pros.”

Pritchard has made a difference with his shooting, including a 3-for-3 downtown performance against Indiana on Sunday night. He shot 5-for-7 from that range over his first three NBA games. And he gets to learn on the run with a 32-year-old veteran – Jeff Teague.

“Just how he’s able to create fouls and get to the free-throw line,” Pritchard said of one such trick. “The NBA’s such a different game from college, the spacing, the foul calls, what they call and stuff like that, the little tricks he does to get guys on his back and create a foul. So for me, it’s just learning how to create those angles to draw those fouls, to create easier points, to get to the free-throw line, so obviously those little things I’m trying to pick up and add to my game.”

And three games into his professional career Pritchard is a rotational player.

“I had an idea of what it would look like,” he said. “It’s obviously a lot of traveling, late nights and stuff like that, so recovery and nutrition and all that, you’ve definitely got to take that stuff serious, but it’s been going great so far.”

Not smarting

Marcus Smart gave the audience a jolt when he fell to the floor Sunday night holding his left shoulder. He returned quickly to the game.

Smart said a post-game X-ray of the shoulder was negative.

“I’m good today. Yesterday was just weird,” he said. “Nothing major. Everything is fine. X Rays negative, so that’s a good thing. Let it calm down. But I’m fine. I’m playing tomorrow.”

D up

Among other things, the Celtics have suffered on transition defense. But they’ve also been worse.

“I would say that we started so bad transition defense-wise in the Brooklyn preseason game, and in the Milwaukee game at home, that we had nowhere to go but up,” said Brad Stevens. “If you’re asking if it’s better – it’s way better. Is it good enough? No. That said, some of our issues yesterday – there were only a couple of issues off made field goals or field goal attempts.

“It was mostly off turnovers, and/or things we need to clean up on offense. It’s hard to guard a turnover. That’s when people get run out, that’s when people get opportunities. You saw that with us. Both teams probably got six or eight points off of turnovers that were uncontested at the rim. Those are points that you can’t allow against a really good team, and that you’re dying to get against a really good team.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2WOsb97